Child Well-Being in Rich Countries: UNICEF’s Ranking Revisited, and New Symmetric Aggregating Operators Exemplified

In a report published in 2007 UNICEF measured six dimensions of child well-being for the majority of the economically advanced nations. No overall scores are given, but countries are listed in the order of their average rank on the dimensions, which are therefore implicitly assigned ‘equal importance’. In this study we take ‘equal importance’ to mean that the final aggregation is symmetrical in the scores and the ranks, i.e. permuting them leaves the aggregate unchanged. We rank the countries by aggregating the numerical information using a variety of techniques, geared to the measurement scales we distinguish (‘ordinal’, ‘interval’, ‘ratio’). The aggregators are symmetrical and mildly demanding, emphasizing good performance across the board. The rankings obtained deviate from the UNICEF ranking, but not over-dramatically. Our purpose is not only to study alternative approaches for the particular data at hand, but also to introduce and exemplify new and useful aggregation techniques: we propose ways to select weights for OWA-operators and weighted geometric means, and we suggest how to circumvent the choice of a power for the power means. In addition we extend the Borda method so that it values dominance as well

Personalized therapy for mycophenolate: consensus report by the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology

When mycophenolic acid (MPA) was originally marketed for immunosuppressive therapy, fixed doses were recommended by the manufacturer. Awareness of the potential for a more personalized dosing has led to development of methods to estimate MPA area under the curve based on the measurement of drug concentrations in only a few samples. This approach is feasible in the clinical routine and has proven successful in terms of correlation with outcome. However, the search for superior correlates has continued, and numerous studies in search of biomarkers that could better predict the perfect dosage for the individual patient have been published. As it was considered timely for an updated and comprehensive presentation of consensus on the status for personalized treatment with MPA, this report was prepared following an initiative from members of the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT). Topics included are the criteria for analytics, methods to estimate exposure including pharmacometrics, the potential influence of pharmacogenetics, development of biomarkers, and the practical aspects of implementation of target concentration intervention. For selected topics with sufficient evidence, such as the application of limited sampling strategies for MPA area under the curve, graded recommendations on target ranges are presented. To provide a comprehensive review, this report also includes updates on the status of potential biomarkers including those which may be promising but with a low level of evidence. In view of the fact that there are very few new immunosuppressive drugs under development for the transplant field, it is likely that MPA will continue to be prescribed on a large scale in the upcoming years. Discontinuation of therapy due to adverse effects is relatively common, increasing the risk for late rejections, which may contribute to graft loss. Therefore, the continued search for innovative methods to better personalize MPA dosage is warranted.Personalised Therapeutic

On ranking opportunity sets in economic environments

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.93385(98/3) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

On diversity and freedom of choice

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.93385(97/18) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Welfarism, individual rights and game forms

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:3553.8(BU-DE-DP--91-07) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Choice under complete uncertainty Axiomatic characterizations of some decision rules

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.93385(98/12) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

On the equivalence of some properties of stochastic demand functions

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.93385(99/16) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Consistent choice and falsifiability of the maximization hypothesis

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.93385(99/17) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

On preference and freedom

SIGLEGBUnited Kingdo